Web Object Description Language
In an earlier blog entry, we disclosed the availability of our reference paper on the WODL - The Web Object Description Language. The main underlying idea being that everything should be exposed as a URL, with progressive sophistication, from simple attributes access up to full web services calls.
I got some interesting comments on this entry, and I promised then to release more info on another research work we did as part of this effort: modelforge.
Modelforge
The idea of modelforge is pretty straight forward (well, at least, I hope it is J ). One can find on the web many collaborative platforms, allowing communities to share information and material. Yet we have identified that there is an area where such a platform does not exist, although the community would really benefit from it: the area of object models. Many companies (SAP being one of them) are pushing to become the standard setters, by being the first, or by opening materials. The SAP Enterprise Service Repository is a good example of this. Yet these efforts are led by a single entity, and as one would say: “don’t fight the internet”. We interpret this phrase as: “don’t try to force people to do what they don’t want to do”. Simply said, this means: “you can open your data or be the first in an area, if the community does not go your way, well then, farewell!”. That is why we decided to provide a platform where the community of developers that need to use or create objects, could freely update, expose, modify and share object models. Up to the community then to de facto decides on which models suit best which context.
We have thus created a web2.0 platform, where one can do everything he could dream of. You are SAP or a competitor, and you have a “best practice” model representing an Invoice? Just upload your model on modelforge, explain what it is useful for, and see what the community makes out of it. You can have competing models, everything’s open. Our guess is that out of this mess, a few models will emerge, as the most frequently used ones. You are the CIO of a startup, and you need to create an Invoice object model in your new software? Well, why creating yours, while you could leverage what SAP is using (maybe anticipating on a later acquisition 😉 ). Just go on modelforge, type in what you are looking for, and decide by yourself what you are looking for. Modelforge is as simple as that.
Demo
Modelforge - A collaborative platform for sharing software object models from SAP Research France on Vimeo.
To illustrate this, we have created a video which you can have a look at.
You can get more info on our work about WebOO (Web Objects Orientation) on our Web Object Oriented Programming, and also info on how this concept allows for Internet of Services + Internet of Things? Internet of Objects!.
